Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Man on the Moon

The Sunni pro-Baathist website Iraqi Rabita today warned Sunnis not to believe rumors that it claims are widespread throughout the Arab world and are being distributed via mobile phone text messages that Saddam’s face appeared on the moon. The website declared that these rumors are false and religiously prohibited. The website also claimed an unnamed satellite television station was spreading these rumors as well. The website asked Sunnis not to believe the rumors about Saddam on the moon because those who would be happy at the Sunni loss, meaning Shias, like Abdel Aziz al Hakim and Nuri al Maliki would laugh at them. Indeed soon after the Shia Buratha website mocked Sunnis. "They could not find him on the earth so they started looking for him in the moon," the site said. It explained that the rumor started in the evening and "some naifs in Abu Ghureib, Amriya, Khadra and Yarmuk (Sunni neighborhoods) stood outside in the cold weather searching for Saddam in the moon."

Baghdad in 2000: "A woman known as Um Haydar was beheaded reportedly without charge or trial at the end of December 2000. She was 25 years' old and married with three children. Her husband was sought by the security authorities reportedly because of his involvement in Islamist armed activities against the state. He managed to flee the country. Men belonging to Feda'iyye Saddam came to the house in al-Karrada district and found his wife, children and his mother. Um Haydar was taken to the street and two men held her by the arms and a third pulled her head from behind and beheaded her in front of the residents. The beheading was also witnessed by members of the Ba'ath Party in the area. The security men took the body and the head in a plastic bag, and took away the children and the mother-in-law. The body of Um Haydar was later buried in al-Najaf. The fate of the children and the mother-in-law remains unknown."